Daily Real Estate News  |  June 29, 2009  |   Home Builders Seek Close-In Properties
Home builders are searching for property to buy, despite owning lots of land in outlying suburbs.

Ivy Zelman, CEO of Zelman & Associates, a housing-research firm, says demand for lots in prime locations is increasing, with builders competing for properties in Phoenix, near Washington, D.C., and in parts of California.

In some cases, the price of available property has declined substantially. In prime Phoenix suburbs, for instance, the average cost of a 6,000- to 7,000-square-foot lot has sunk from $120,000 in 2005 to $35,000 currently.

Rich Samit, chief executive of Fraser Forbes Co., a land broker in McLean, Va., says properties in the “appealing” Washington, D.C., suburbs are being bought by builders who want to reload their inventories in anticipation of better times.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, James R. Hagerty (06/24/2009)